Wind Wolves Endurance Ride Part I: Friday

*I'm splitting this in to two posts. There's just too much to say for one post!

It seems like the minor disasters that have been striking all week just couldn't find a way to knock it off. I got most of my packing done Thursday night, so all I needed to do was get together the hay and feed, and load everything up. I was already planning to take my elderly dog, Roxy, with me. She can be a little difficult, and needs to be pilled twice a day. I didn't feel it would be right to leave her with my roommate to deal with. Besides, presented with the choice, Roxy would spend all day in the truck just to be with me rather than stay at home.



So I got up reasonably early on Friday morning and started on morning chores. Despite having recently ruptured the cruciate ligament in her right hind leg, Roxy still wants to come on the morning walk. She does okay. But I knew this couldn't last. She would eventually do the same thing in the other leg. Roxy is 11 years old. She has permanent kidney damage, chronic bronchitis, ulcers, and arthritis. It's very unlikely that she's a surgical candidate. Not only is she older, her health issues create much greater risk of her dying on the table. Not only that, with the extensive arthritis, it's very likely she would have extreme difficulty recovering from surgery. Anyway, all of that leads up to this: during our walk Friday morning, Roxy ruptured the left cruciate ligament. At least, that's what it appears happened. It's hard to say for sure without x-rays and diagnostics, but that's sure what it looks like. She was unable to walk home. Since I can't carry her that far – although I'd've tried if I had to – I called my roommate and asked her to drive out to pick Roxy up. So my morning walk went long, and my dog was now unable to rise well on her own.



Once we got back I started up packing again. Poor Roxy was becoming upset because she knew I was preparing to leave. She got up and tried to hobble outside to make sure she didn't get left behind. My roommate was able to intercept her just outside the door and keep her calm until I could come back to the house and reassure her. I went ahead and just put her in the truck. That way, she would feel secure and wouldn't continue to try to follow me around.



I had everything together, the truck hooked up and the horse loaded and was on the road not much after 10am. That much was pretty much as planned. I stopped and got gas and what groceries I still needed, and headed up the road.



The drive was brutal. This ride is north of LA and I made the critical error of attempting to take the 5 straight up. I'd forgotten how stupid an idea that is. It's been a really long time since I've needed to drive through LA. Most of the time, I'm further inland. In many places through LA, the 5 is downright scary, especially with a trailer. I felt like I was going to make contact with vehicles in the other lane more than once. By the time all was said and done, what Google maps predicted to be about a five hour drive was more like seven.



I arrived at ride camp just before 6pm. I got Roxy out of the truck and resting comfortably in the grass. I then went to unload Hoss. I don't tie Hoss in the trailer, and I pin the back-most divider open so he has the back two sections of the trailer to move about in. So I opened the door and called him on out. Well, he got his front feet out, realized he was standing up to his fetlocks in fresh grass, and started grazing! He didn't even bother to get his hind feet out of the trailer. I had a good chuckle over this, then encouraged him to finish unloading so I could close the trailer door. I got him set up with his alfalfa hay, beet pulp mush, and a bucket of water.



I set up the tent and got out my twin size air mattress. I brought out the air pump, which I had charged overnight at home, hooked it up and started it. It petered out after about three minutes! The new charger I spent all that time at Radio Shack to buy Thursday? Didn't work. So instead I was reduced to folding my memory foam in half and using that as a bed. I've done this in the past, and while it's not as comfy as the air mattress, it's livable. I put my sleeping bag, pillows, clothes, and an extra sleeping bag for Roxy in the tent. Then I put Roxy in the truck and took Hoss to vet in.



Hoss's heart rate was a little higher than I'm accustomed to seeing when he comes in to a ride. He was at 44 bpm. I suspect this has to do with the stress of the trailer ride. It was long, arduous, and loud! I'm sure the sound of all those tractor/trailers could not have been reassuring. I also was unable to find an appropriate place to unload him on the way and let him rest, so he spent the entire time, pretty close to eight hours, in the trailer.



After vetting, I took Hoss back to the trailer to finish his food, fed Roxy and heated up a can of beef stew for myself. The wind started to pick up just a little bit, but it was nice and warm. By this time, it was time for the ride meeting.



I headed for the ride meeting. At the ride meeting, it was mentioned that the weather report predicted cooler, or as warm, or the possibility of rain. Basically, who the heck knows? The weather report I looked at said cooler but no rain, so I decided to go with that, depending on the morning.



By the time the ride meeting was over, the wind had really started to pick up. I walked back to my campsite, where I found I needed to break down my camp stove before it blew over. I secured everything that could possibly blow away. I got Roxy out of the truck and into the tent, gave Hoss more hay, and crawled in to go to bed.



It was still quite warm in spite of the wind. I read my book for a while, then decided I needed to get some sleep for the upcoming ride.



Not long after I turned out the lights and lay down, the wind really picked up. I had the windows open on my tent, and despite this, the tent was being whipped about by the wind gusts. I had left the rain fly off, which was probably a good thing, since I really did not have any intention of visiting Oz. I got absolutely no sleep while that wind blew. It did not get better fast. Indeed, it got to the point where dirt was blowing in through the mesh of the window. I tried closing the window, only to discover that this caused the wind to push the tent down essentially right on top of me. I was very glad that I had used every tent stake option I had. So I had to leave the window open, and keep my sleeping bag tugged over my face to prevent myself from being sand-blasted.



I got up a few times to check on Hoss. He was handling things okay, if not with his usual aplomb. I did notice that he wasn't eating. Upon looking, I realized he was out of hay. This seemed unusual. He usually doesn't eat that fast. On closer inspection, however, I discovered that his hay had blown away! I collected it back up and he was happy to have it back.



About 2:00am or so, the wind finally died down and I was able to get some sleep. I woke up at 4:00 am, about half an hour earlier than I had planned, and went ahead and fed Hoss. I went back into the tent and caught another hour or so of sleep. Once I got up for good, I dressed and made sure I had everything I needed on my saddle. The weather looked good. It was still pitch dark, but I could see there were no clouds. And it was warm. My little miniature weather station said 67 degrees. So I simply wore my riding tights and t-shirt.



I got Hoss groomed and saddled, and we were ready for the start!